Dibadu for Strickmich! Club 2018
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Colors, colors, Dibadu! Barbara Wolff lives and works in Germany, at the border of the Teutoburger Forest, close to the town of Paderborn. And she loves colors, and that’s the first thing you will notice when looking at her gorgeous hand dyed yarns. When she knits herself, she will always choose a multicolored, preferably modular project: “Knitting with just one color, that’s just not me!” she says. “I love to work with lots of different hues and shades, even if I have to weave in 295 ends when I am done!” Her passion for crafting goes way back: “I was one of those students who would constantly knit during class in the 70s and 80s” she recalls. After finishing school, Barbara went on to become a flutist and music instructor. When she and her husband started a family, her knitting career took a break: “With four kids it’s kind of hard to find time and peace for creativity”, Barbara says.
When her youngest son turned three and started to attend daycare, that changed: “I remembered what was most fun to me when I was a teen: Knitting!” She started to look for beautiful yarns and soon discovered the world of handdyed beauty. “Handdyed yarn – that sounded exciting and promising”, she says. She started to experiment – and has not stopped working with colors and dyepots ever since. The step from music to colors was not a big one for Barbara: “I am a synesthetic. In my head, numbers, letters and sounds each have a different color”, she says. So, in a way, Barbara composes a symphony of colors with each hand dyed skein for us!
A Trio Aquarell from Barbara’s workshop (Photo: M. Behm)
Barbara lives and works in Germany, at the border of the Teutoburger Forest, close to the town of Paderborn. “When I dye yarn, I make sure the colors are harmonic and pleasant when knit up – it should not pool unless it’s intended to”, Barbara says. She tolerates pooling only when it is planned, like with her “Sockenmaler” (“Sock painter”) or “Maschenmaler” (“stitch painter”) yarns. Her specialty are her “Trios”: Combinations of three skeins that are meant for one project, but differ. It may be a subtle gradient, a common sprinkle pattern or an underlying tone. “Each Trio tells a story with three voices”, she says. Her artful yarns can be admired at fiber festivals or in her online store: from light cobweb angora to chunky wool, combinations of 2 big skeins or mini skein sets – everything turns into colorful beauty under her hands.
We are very curious about what she will dye for Strickmich! Club 2018 – and are more than happy that Barbara agreed to contribute one of her wonderful yarns to our Club. Welcome!
P. S.: Sign-ups for Strickmich! Club will start on November 6th on our Sign-up page.
Pictures: Dibadu
Zwei rechts, zwei links
Ebba Drolshagen has written a book in German about the history of knitting, and she will come to Damsdorf for a little reading on November 18th. We are happy to have her!
Blacker Yarns for Strickmich! Club 2018
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And here she is, our third yarn supplier for Strickmich! Club 2018: Sue Blacker and her wonderful Blacker Yarns! Sue is not a handdyer, but a yarn composition virtuoso: Her small spinnery in Cornwall that she has been running since 2005, specialises in all natural yarn with wool from British sheep. “The breeders bring or send us their fleeces, and we will make beautiful yarns from them – even in small quantities”, Sue says. Which fibres are suitable for which kind of yarn, whether it should be woollen or worsted spun and how it should be plied is her expertise. “We have learned over time that you cannot make everything out of every wool. The characteristics are very important: thickness, drape, elasticity, luster and whether it’s hard-wearing or not, and we help our clients to work that out”, Sue says.
Brushwork – a special limited edition yarn made out of Scottish Bowmont wool
Of course, Sue employs this knowledge for her own yarn brand “Blacker Yarns”, as well: She carries pure breed yarns like Shetland, Gotland and Bluefaced Leicester, but also blends with silk, linen or compositions of different wools. “Tamar” for example is a blend including Wensleydale, Teeswater, Leicester Longwool and other similar fleeces, all consisting of long, lustrous hairs that give the resulting yarn a special shine – perfect for shawls and flowing sweaters. Yarns like this will also help sustain rare sheep breeds, which is a very important aspect of Sue’s work.
Blacker Tamar Lustre Blend
Sue Blacker must be one of the most astonishing people of the fiber world: She studied history and worked in the City of London as an analyst until the late 80s. “In 1989 the industry changed, and my work became less interesting.” So she and her husband decided to start a new life in Cornwall, where Sue moved into consulting charities and small businesses. And she bought a couple of sheep: “We had ground, we needed the grass cut, and that’s what sheep do!”
Sue and her flock
When the sheep had to be shorn, Sue took their fleeces to the spinning mill for processing. A couple of years later, she heard that the owners wanted to retire and were looking for someone to take over their business – and saw an opportunity. “I love opportunities!”, Sue says. She moved the mill from Wales to Cornwall, bought new equipment for spinning more different kinds of yarn and added a dyeing house. “I wanted to do something for small farmers and knitters alike by making beautiful yarn from British fibers,” she says. “When we started out, first we had to explain to everyone why they should knit with wool and not acrylic”, Sue remembers.
But Sue is not only an entrepreneur, a fiber expert, a sheep breeder and wool activist (take a look at her blog), she also knits and designs. “I like to play with texture as in guernseys, cables or brioche. Broken rib is one of my favourites, it makes wonderful fabric with tweeded colors”, she says. “I only knit items that I want, and I like projects that are suitably mindless.” Sue also has a big knitting library – “and many more ideas than time!”. Her favourite yarns are those that have body and “a presence. I don’t like it if a yarn runs through my hands like cooked spaghetti!”
The color palettes of Blacker Yarns are the most beautiful ones that I have encountered so far. And I am very excited and happy that Sue will provide Strickmich! Club with one of her yarns in a new and exclusive colorway!
Sign-ups for Strickmich! Club 2018 will start in November on our sign-up page.
Cowgirlblues for Strickmich! Club 2018
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Her yarn have this special, relaxed feeling to it – looking at it, touching it or knitting with it feels like a vacation! That’s probably because Bridget Henderson lives in South Africa, close to Cape Town, just a 15 minute walk away from the Table Mountain National Park. “Cowgirlblues” is the name she chose for her brand, and I am proud and happy to announce she has agreed to dye a new, exclusive color for Strickmich! Club – for a sunshiny feeling when knitting!
Bridget has been dyeing yarns since 2012: “I had learned to spin and the natural next step was to start experimenting with dyeing. My first experiences were with some yarn and with wool roving as I was still thinking about spinning.” In the beginning she focussed on dyeing already knitted yarn and dyed a lot of garments, she says. “At this stage I wasn’t aware of the huge move towards hand dyed yarns internationally. But knitters and crocheters in South Africa started seeing my colours and began asking for yarns, so I started doing these as well.”
Pictures: Kathrin Schafbauer
The first merino sheep arrived in South Africa in 1789 and mohair goats in 1838. “So unlike many European countries we don’t have the traditional knits and patterns that have been handed down over hundreds of years”, Bridget says. But sometimes that’s an advantage as we aren’t tied to a historical way of doing things, so I think I would say that people are fairly open minded and interested in trying new things here.”
Bridget creates all of her colour blends from primary colour dye powders and she and her team mix them up themselves. “I think both the palette and the combinations of colours make our yarns stand out”, she says. “They have a vibrancy about them that I think is a little different. And maybe there’s a trace of the passion we feel for the product that lingers on the yarns, left behind by all the hands each skein has passed through in the process.” Bridget works with South African natural materials which are predominantly wool and mohair: “I love these fibres and the different blends of them.”, she says.
When Bridget has free time, she continues her creative journey: “I am a maker, so I’m often playing around with different projects and at the moment I’m in a bit of a woodwork phase and have been learning to make shelves and drawers … it’s quite difficult. I have a garden and like to potter about and play, and I’m always experimenting.” She also spends a lot of time walking the mountain with her Siberian Husky, Meera. And, of course, she knits: “I like easy knitting projects! I use knitting as a way to relax, so I like something that’s quite meditative where I don’t have to think too hard about following a complicated pattern. And I like to let the colour do the work…!” So it looks like she is just perfect to be a part of Strickmich! Club, as Martina’s patterns do exactly that!
We are more than happy to have Bridget and her fabulous yarns in Strickmich! Club and are excited to see what color she comes up with for us!
P. S.: “Cowgirlblues” comes from Tom Robbins’ book “Even Cowgirls get the Blues”. Bridget has this quote from the book on her website:
“If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill, take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond where it has ever been before, push it to the wildest edge of edges, then you will force it into the realm of magic.”
— Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Sign-ups for Strickmich! Club 2018 will start in November on our sign-up page.
Zauberwiese for Strickmich! Club 2018
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I always feel flattered when a dyer lets me know she would like to participate in Strickmich! Club for the second time around – and with Alexandra Abu-Toboul, I am especially happy as her yarns are getting more and more irresistible! In 2016, she dyed a beautiful light turquoise rainbow on a shimmering silk-blend base for us. I loved to knit with it, and the result was “Snowflake Party“, a cute little shawl with a lacy snowflake pattern. “I am happy to be part of Strickmich! Club again! It is good to know that we can make the club members happy with our yarn and a design that was made especially for it”, Alexandra says. It will be exciting to see what she comes up with in 2018, as she is one of the most versatile dyers I know.
Transparent or bold, freckled or semisolid – Alexandra enjoys living her creative side when dyeing her “Zauberwiese” yarns. “I love to let my intuition guide me, especially when I am trying to dye a color combination I have seen in nature”, Alexandra says. Colors have always been her thing. “As a kid I would invest all my pocket money to buy crayons and paint”, she says. Later she went on to study art in Strasbourg: Sculpting, painting, photography, and after that she trained as a typesetter and worked as a graphic designer. Her favorite hobby is still sitting outside, observing nature and drawing and painting. The colors she tries out on paper have good chances to be used in the yarn dyeing pots as well. “When I am drawing I often think: Wow, this is cool, I need to try this on wool!” Colors pretty as painted, colorful as a meadow full of flowers – that’s also how her brand name “Zauberwiese” (“enchanted meadow”) could be interpreted.
Alexandra grew up in the Black Forest in southern Germany (and has kept her lovely accent!), but now totally feels at home in the very very north, close to the Baltic Sea. “I have always enjoyed traveling to the shores, I love being able to see the horizon. Now I live two minutes from the beach – how perfect is that?” Knitting with a view – sounds great! Alexandra likes to knit socks and small shawls, or hats for her kids. “I usually do not have the patience to knit an entire sweater”, she says. When she dyes for herself, she prefers deep dark teal or magenta tones, but her customers’ wishes have inspired her to develop an amazing palette. “I have recently started to experiment with different kinds of gray – and I find it really intriguing!” she says.
She applies her colors in several layers in order to achieve an fascinating depth. “Many of my skeins are unique because it is just impossible to apply the color in exactly the same way twice”, Alexandra says. In her Online-Store you will find unusual yarns such as Corriedale, Donegal or Silk Bouclé. “I love the challenge to dye a color perfectly on a relatively difficult yarn base such as alpaca”, she says. Her speciality are almost transparent colors and beautiful variations of the same tone – as you can see in her fabulous Mini-Skein gradient kits. But Alexandra also knows how to deal with really big skeins: Her new specialty are huge skeins that weigh 400 grams and have enough yardage (more than 2000 meters) for sweaters and cardigans even in larger sizes. They are quite difficult to dye because it’s not easy to make the pigments reach every inch of the skein, but Alexandra has found her way.
Alexandra’s new specialty: Huge skeins!
So dyeing our 150-g-skeins for Strickmich! Club will be a piece of cake! At Strickmich! Club we are very glad that Alexandra has agreed to dye one of her very special colorways for us.
Sign-ups for Strickmich! Club 2018 will start in November on our sign-up page.
Shore Hap Joy
Dark skies and blue waters, pebbly beaches, brown seaweed, blackened wood and stormy gray clouds – those are the colors of the very north of Germany: Schleswig-Holstein, my home. What shall I say? I grew up here, and despite having lived in warmer and friendlier parts of this planet, I would not want to be anywhere else. The climate is a good excuse to wear wool (almost) year-round, especially around the neck and shoulders – areas that are most affected by winds and weather when taking a walk outside.
My interpretation of the hap is inspired by the colors of Schleswig-Holstein, which also seem to be the colors most loved and worn by its inhabitants – probably because they are stain-proof and flattering at the same time. Traditional festive dresses of the islands of the North Sea are dark brown with blue trims, and sailors, a frequent sight in the cities with big harbors, used to wear blue and white striped uniforms. The shape of my hap is that of a modified sailor’s collar with a triangular instead of a square back. This struck me as especially useful, as it can be wrapped and tied in various ways around your shoulders and is likely to stay put and keep you warm, even if you are working around the house and garden, carrying firewood or sweeping your yard.
The long ends of the hap could be tucked into the front of an apron or skirt – which is probably why I found a shawl shaped like this one in the Flensburg Museum. But I am sure you will find your own flattering way to wear this interesting shape. Worked in a modern smooth and lightweight superwash merino yarn, it will wash well and keep you good company for many years to come. Made entirely in garter stitch, the knitting process is easy and relaxing and will easily fit into your life, no matter how busy.
This pattern is now available as a single download or printed leaflet in Strickmich! Shop, where we also carry the yarn I used and kits in beautiful color combinations. It is also on Ravelry, of course!
Bellrose
She was known as fearless, she loved her freedom, her music and the stage: Janis Joplin. In the 60s, everything she did was revolutionary. She left Texas to sing with a band in San Francisco, she cried and screamed during her performances and became ecstatic when she saw people dance to her music. While other women of her generation still wore stiff hairdos and little pastel suits during their days at the office, Janis put purple feathers in her hair, threw on a gold-glittering crocheted vest, shook her hair and rocked the stage and the whole world of music.
She sang the blues like no other. She was rebellious, free, feminine and incredibly talented – which makes her an inspiration up until today, more than 45 years after her death.
When handdyer Danica told me she had named the color for this club shipment after a movie based on Janis Joplin’s life, I designed a shawl that would play with the elements of hippie fashion: Net lace in triangular shapes mirroring the bell-bottomed pants that were popular in that era – playful, but not naively nice. They are worked with short rows that are incorporated in the lace, easy to execute without wrapping stitches. A very relaxed knit in a beautiful, soft yarn – for the rebellious side in you!
Bellrose is now available in print and for download in Strickmich! Shop, and as always, on Ravelry.
In this video I talk about the design and the yarn I used (Vimeo-Link).
Strickplaner – your knitting planner live!
Strickplaner 2018 – your knitting planner is here! In this video on Vimeo I flip through it and talk about the planning tools. Enjoy!
Available in Strickmich! Shop and from selected retailers.
Strickmich! Club Cast-on Event 3-17
… and here is the third virtual Cast-on Event of Strickmich! Club 2017. Enjoy!
Cast-On-Event-3-2017-English (Vimeo-Link)
Strickplaner… coming soon!
Strickplaner will arrive at Strickmich! headquarters in a couple of days! To sweeten up the wait, I have put up the Strickmich! Knitting sticker sheets in our shop: 
We have prepared everything so we can start taking orders right away when the planners arrive here. We will not only offer the planner itself, but two different kits that you might find useful:
Our Strickplaner Kit consists of the planner (choose the English or the German edition), one Schoppel Crazy Zauberball in your favorite color to make the knitted book cover, plus a woven fabric tag that you can use as a pen loop.
The Strickplaner de Luxe Kit has everything you could wish for when using your new planner: A Crazy Zauberball by Schoppel in your favorite color to make the knitted book cover (instructions are in the planner), 2 mm (US size 0) circular knitting needles by Knit Pro, the Strickmich! fabric label, three Strickmich! sticker sheets, three weekview sticker sheets, the Strickmich! project bag plus Strickplaner 2018 – your knitting planner (English edtition). A wonderful gift for your best knitting friend or yourself!